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Three in custody following balcony death

A 39-year-old man has been remanded into custody on suspicions of murder in Bredäng in southern Stockholm following the death of another man who fell from a balcony.

Published: 1 August 2009 10:23 CEST

Two women suspected of illegal imprisonment and abuse were remanded at the same time.

On Tuesday, several people witnessed an older man fall from a fourth-floor balcony in the Stockholm suburb. At first, the police believed the man had jumped, but they then arrested the man and two women, who were found in the apartment shortly after the incident.

Following drawn-out negotations, the 39-year-old man was remanded on Friday afternoon by the Södertörn district court on suspicions of murder. The women were remanded for allegedly illegally imprisoning and abusing the man.

According to the TT news agency, the 60-year-old victim made a multi-million kronor deal where he sold off several business units of a successful company he founded.

The circumstances surrounding the incident are unclear. The remand negotiations were held behind closed doors and prosecutor Södertörn declined to comment.

The 39-year-old man’s lawyer is not allowed to comment either, other than the say that his client denies the accusations and hopes to be found innocent.

“The district court’s decision is a clear indication that the current evidence won’t stand up,” laywer Sargon De Basso told TT.

The prosecutor now has a week to gather evidence and new court negotiations must be held by next Friday.

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Nordic justice ministers meet tech giants on gangs using apps to hire 'child soldiers'

Denmark’s justice minister, Peter Hummelgaard, said in a press release that he hoped to use the meeting on Friday afternoon to discuss how to stop social media and messaging apps being used by gang criminals, who Danish police revealed earlier this year were using them to recruit so-called “child soldiers” to carry out gang killings.

“We have seen many examples of how the gangs are using social media and encrypted messaging services to plan serious crimes and recruit very young people to do their dirty work,” Hummelgaard said. “My Nordic colleagues and I agree that a common front is needed to get a grip on this problem.”

As well as recruitment, lists have been found spreading on social media detailing the payments on offer for various criminal services.

Hummelgaard said he would “insist that the tech giants live up to their responsibilities so that their platforms do not act as hotbeds for serious crimes” at the meeting, which will take place at a summit of Nordic justice ministers in Uppsala, Sweden.

In August, Hummelgaard held a meeting in Copenhagen with Sweden’s justice minister, Gunnar Strömmer, at which the two agreed to work harder to tackle cross-border organised crime, which has seen a series of Swedish youth arrested in Denmark after being recruited to carry out hits in the country.

According to a press release from the Swedish justice ministry, the morning will be spent discussing how to combat the criminal economy and particularly organised crime in ports, with a press release from Finland’s justice ministry adding that the discussion would also touch on the “undue influence on judicial authorities” from organised crime groups.

The day will end with a round table discussion with Ronald S Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, on how anti-Semitism and hate crimes against Jews can be prevented and fought in the Nordic region.

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